View full sizeChristine Baker, The Patriot-NewsA mixture of snow and rain hit the midstate on Dec. 9.

If the forecasters are right, we should be waking up to a fluffy blanket of snow tomorrow morning. It'll be fun for kids, snowman aficionados and skiers, but perhaps not so good for folks who’d planned on getting out and doing some last-minute Christmas shopping.

The good news is the accumulation, according to the National Weather Service in State College, is expected to be primarily snow. About 4 to 8 inches are expected, with winds gusting at 20-25 mph, forecasters said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said in a news release it will have crews treating the roads around the clock to keep roads passable, though not completely free of ice and snow. PennDOT will continue to treat roadways throughout the storm until precipitation stops and roads are clear, the release said. If precipitation is primarily snow, it’s a potentially easy clean-up for the plows and salt trucks local malls have hired to keep parking lots shopper-friendly.

“We are 100 percent prepared at the mall level for whatever happens,” said Mark Nobile, the general manager of the Harrisburg Mall. “If (shoppers) can get here, we’ll be ready.”

The Saturday before Christmas is the second-biggest sales day of the holiday season, rivaled only by Black Friday, according to Jillian Fikkert, spokeswoman for the Capital City Mall.

“We have all hands on deck,” she said. “All our equipment is ready to roll, we have people staged at different hours. We’re very prepared so our parking lot will be clear and ready for our customers.”

The Colonial Park Mall “rarely closes,” said general manager Mary Williams, and it would have to be an emergency situation for it to shut down on “a super-important shopping day for people.”

While malls can mobilize, smaller venues and attractions began canceling activities late Friday afternoon, particularly after PennDOT issued a press release asking people not to travel unnecessarily during the storm. Dauphin County closed Fort Hunter and Wildwood Parks and canceled all Christmas activities for Saturday.

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